Tag Archives: Front End of Innovation

Design and marketing are integral to the process of turning good ideas into successful innovations. And I believe that these are best integrated into the innovation process as early as possible, making the product story and the user interface an integral part of our innovative product or service.

Innovation gets defined so many ways that it can be confusing. While there is a repeatable framework for creating new value, the iterative nature of front end discovery work can perplex those who believe that work should be linear.

First, how do you bring diverse knowledge and insights into the organization to create these unexpected connections? Second, how do you ensure that the creative ideas generated are relevant to your business? Third, how do you support a business process that seems fuzzy and turn it into reproducible steps that invite broad contribution?

The term “Fuzzy Front-End” (FFE) has been established for the early stage of innovation which determines the innovation effectiveness and hence ultimately innovation success. We wanted to better understand where leading firms are setting their priorities in the FFE currently and where they see things going in the future. To answer this, we conducted a study. Our train of thought and the main findings are in a two-part article series published here.

Lou Killeffer November 20, 2015Comments Off on What if your Innovation Program Really is Rocket Science?

Lou Killiefer, Innovation Excellence Editor at large had this recent “Innovation Conversation” with Ken Savin, Ph.D., Advisor, Innovation and Development, Eli Lilly and Company, and Cynthia Bouthot, Director of Commercial Innovation, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space.

Given the chaotic nature of the fuzzy front end, it is no surprise organizations struggle with identifying sources for promising ideas along with processes for jumpstarting innovation. But it doesn’t have to be such a struggle. I found several tools for making innovation a lot less fuzzy...

Willingness-to-pay is a critical element of value management and value-based pricing. It is an important dimension to consider at that stage of innovation but should also be strongly integrated in the design of front-end innovation activities.

Why is it that for some firm’s innovation seems to be incredibly rewarding yet for the majority it remains at best an unfulfilled promise. Why does innovation present such a stark choice, often fraught with difficulties for many, yet so simple and successful for the few? Innovation delivery is one of those differentiation points. Let me suggest here nine points ...